Even though the Walton Raiders entered the second round of the state playoffs with a perfect record, the Colquitt County Packers weren’t intimidated.
With a 28-21 win over the Raiders at Walton High School in Marietta, Colquitt County (9-3) advanced to the quarterfinals next Friday to face Archer, which defeated Mill Creek 16-10 Friday.
The battle wasn’t easily won for the Packers, who secured a 28-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
Colquitt County coach Rush Propst said his message going into facing an 11-0 team like Walton was to simply play solid.
“I mean we’ve done it so much over the years, nine years of doing this and we’ve played some good teams on the road… When you’re undefeated like that it’s just hard to put someone like that away,” Propst said. “They’re not going to go away easy, but you just have to get it done. I knew when we were up 28-14 I knew it would get close again someway somehow.”
The Raiders rallied in the fourth quarter thanks to the spark on both sides of the ball by junior wide receiver and defensive back Dominick Blaylock.
To start the fourth quarter, Blaylock first picked off Packers quarterback Steven Krajewski and returned the ball inside Packers territory, then completed a long pass moving the Raiders inside the five-yard line while in the wildcat formation and finally scored on a four-yard run all in under two minutes.
Blaylock’s drive, which brought the Raiders to trail the Packers 28-21 consisted of six plays, went 45 yards and lasted 1:47.
“I told him after the game just make sure you do everything right away from the field because on the field, you’re a great talent to player,” Propst said. “He’ll be at great player in SEC when he gets there but I thought our guy (junior defensive back) Jay Ward drew him single coverage a lot tonight and bad some balls away and (senior safety) Kaleb Dawson had a big hit over the middle right there at the end and I was proud of our defense there at the end.”
After Blaylock seemed to singlehandedly move the Raiders within one score in the fourth quarter, the Raiders’ defense came alive and contested the game. The Raiders (11-1) stuffed Colquitt County’s offense on third down as they barreled for the end zone in the fourth quarter.
The Packers defense stop the Raiders from scoring to tie the game in the fourth quarter while Raiders quarterback Austin Kirksey led his team to eat up much of the last 10 minutes of the clock before failing to convert a fourth-down in Packers territory.
The Packers first posed a threat to the home team to start the second half when Colquitt County used less than a minute of time to score on an eight-yard run by Krajewski and give the Packers a 28-14 lead.
“The quarterback (Krajewski) experienced some tough things tonight, he hadn’t thrown an interception. He threw two interceptions all year and they were on Hail Mary’s,” Prospt said. “His head was shaken a little bit so I’m proud of him for hanging in there and being able to finish the game because we were banged up pretty good.”
Two of the three turnovers forced by the Packers were in the final minute of the second quarter when the momentum first switched to favor the visiting team.
The Packers clung onto victory even after allowing three turnovers against the Raiders. Walton scored 14 points off the turnovers the Raiders defense scored while the Packers scored seven.
Even in the first half, fans saw what a dogfight this Sweet 16 matchup would be.
Walton junior quarterback Austin Kirksey threw his first interception of the night to Packers defensive back Nyquan Washington around the Packers’ 20-yard line. Washington returned the ball to the Packers 41-yard line.
The Packers ran two plays before Raiders defensive back Mikey Farr picked off Krajewski on the Raiders’ 44-yard line and fell out of bounds with 22 seconds remaining in the half.
The next play, Kirksey’s pass was fumbled and recovered by Packers junior linebacker Rashard Revels at Walton’s 23-yard line. The recovery set the Packers up for a 23-yard run by running back Camari Louis to give the Packers a 21-14 lead with 8.1 seconds left in the second quarter.
The Raiders had the momentum early when they scored on their second possession of the game on a three-yard run by Blaylock. The touchdown was set up by a 45-yard pass from Kirksey.
The Packers answered on the next possession with a 12-yard touchdown with 2:03 left in the first quarter when Krajewski danced behind the protection of his offensive line to find senior wide receiver Cam Singletary in the back of the end zone.
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